In the Name of Vanity
by mjrahabim
Summary: Wounds of the heart are healed only by death...(Chapter 2 Posted!)
1. Death Arrives

Somewhere beyond my throne room door, I could hear the frantic cries of my children as the humans laid waste to my empire. I didn't care that they were slowly but surely making their way to me, intent on my ultimate destruction. At my feet a fledgling trembled, his breath came in wheezing gasps. "Master." He said softly. "We must leave this place. They're coming." From his disgusting lips the prophecy was almost ominous. I looked down at him and growled. 

"It no longer matters." I closed my eyes and laid my head against the back of the throne. I had designed it for her…

"Master!" the fledgling's tone was more urgent. "They're killing your children…They're killing us!" My claws reached out of their own accord and grabbed the young vampire by the throat. I threw him roughly, the sickening crunch echoed off the hollow walls of the throne room. At least he would not see the human's repugnant scheme come to pass. I couldn't say the same for myself…or her…I hadn't been able to save her, just like I would not save myself now. 

Kain would tell my brethren my vanity had been the reason the humans had decimated my clan. But even he knew that it wasn't the truth. And if Raziel had still been alive, he would know it too. 

"Dumah!" The vampire hunters were pounding on my door. Again I opened my eyes, this time the face of my older brother came into my view.

"Turel." I said his name slowly malice dripping from every syllable. Turel moved forward and stood beside my throne. 

"Don't do this." He whispered. "Kain would not approve." 

"Kain would not approve?" I roared. I got to my feet in one swift movement and snarled at him. Behind me, the heavy wooden door shook beneath an enormous weight. "I don't think our dear Lord Kain will mind my loss. He seems to be thinning the herd…" the door trembled again. "Don't you think?" Turel frowned and shook his head.   
"They'll kill you." He said, almost as an after thought. "Is that what you want? To die?" He glared at me. 

"She did…" I told him softly taking my place back on the seat of my elaborate chair. The door trembled violently this time, splinters tearing free of their rightful places. 

"Why do you dwell on that woman? She was weak…human…" Turel's voice stalled as the middle of the door bowed inward and groaned. "Dumah!" He shouted even more urgently. His claws grabbed at my forearm as he tried to pull me from the seat. 

"I loved her…" My words were too soft even for my brother to hear, but they hung in the air like a black cloud. "I needed her…" I took in a deep breath, my memories altogether painful and loathsome… 

From our fledgling days Kain had preached to us about destiny and fate. At the time my brethren and I had scoffed at his words, but some years later I discovered there were truth behind them…

I had a bad habit of waking up long before dusk had settled itself across Nosgoth. It had been that way since I had been made. It was almost as if somehow I knew that I would meet her.

She'd been standing on a hill over looking the human city the first time I saw her. The sun almost engulfed her as it set, making her seem ethereal. Even then I had been tempted to brave my affliction to it and go to her. 

At first I entertained the thought of waiting until the sun had fully set and making her my next meal, but something about that seemed wrong. She was a creature wrought from the very beauty of Nosgoth itself. So I waited. A month I watched her…

Turel dug his claws into the ivory flesh of my arm and I growled at him. I didn't want her memory to leave me. I wanted to keep it close to me in hopes that once the humans had finished their caliginous deed, I could return to the place where she would be waiting for me. 

"Dumah!" Turel seemed somewhat frantic.

"I know what my name is." I growled softly. "Must you continue to say it as if it were diseased?" 

"You'll wish it was diseased when they break through that door, Dumah!" Turel shouted. "Don't let this happen." He paused, taking in air that his long unused lungs did not need. "They've already killed the majority of your children. Do not join them…" I turned eyes that had once been bright with energy and vitality on him, knowing that even he would be able to see that I had lost the will to live…


	2. Alternate Reasons

Chapter 2

The clash of steel and the angry shouts of the warring council could be heard throughout the Sanctuary of the Clans. Fledglings and generals alike gathered outside the gates, desperately trying to discern what was happening inside. It was needless to assume that Kain was nowhere to be found.

"The humans must be herded to a new location. They're getting far too brave." Raziel said angrily. 

"Far too brave? That's nonsense." My own voice held an edge of deadly rage. "Why move them when they're such easy pickings right where they are?" I held my sword out in front of me daring Raziel to approach me. "Besides, dear brother, you wouldn't know the meaning of brave if it ran you through." 

"I'd watch my tongue if I were you." Raziel's sharp warning caught me off guard, but I was not about to back down. I had an alternate reason for defending the human herd. 

I grabbed the edge of his sword with my claws and threw him to the floor. "You could never beat me, Raziel." I snarled, stepping heavily on his mid-section. "And I doubt you ever will. The humans stay!" I stomped away from him, confident I had made my point clear. 

"We shall see, Dumah." The words filled the dormant air around us and I stopped in mid-stride. Behind me I could hear the ragged breathing of Melchia as he waited for another inevitable battle to ensue. He was not disappointed. Turning, I leapt on Raziel my claws tearing at his throat. But I got no further in my attempts to kill him. Another claw, much stronger than that of my brothers, grabbed the back of my hair and threw me into the pillars at the far side of the Sanctuary. 

"That's enough." Kain's voice reverberated throughout the throne room. My younger brothers trembled at his sudden appearance. But I did not. "This argument is over." He sighed loudly as he lowered himself to his dais. I got to my feet and shook out my hair. "The human herd will be moved to the place of Raziel's desideratum." 

"No!" I shouted angrily. I moved toward my father seething with rage. I could not lose her when I was so close to seizing her for my own. 

Kain turned golden eyes on me and scowled. I winced as he withdrew the Soul Reaver from its sheath and held it out in front of him. It shimmered in it's own demonic light. He seemed to study it for a long moment before speaking. "Be wary of your foolish desires, Dumah. They are destined to bring about naught but pain and death." He closed his eyes and let the sword fall with a clatter at his feet, making me wonder if his speech had been meant entirely for me…

"Leave me." I said at last. The door groaned once more beneath the weight of some unseen force. "I'd withdraw to the far corners of Nosgoth if I were you. Death is not that distant from the futures of Kain's children."

Turel let his claws slip slowly from my arm. "Please Dumah, reconsider." He choked, his voice tinged with regret. "A century has passed since the death of Fiene and yet you have endured; let her go. Return to the Sanctuary. Live to fight another day. It's unlike you to give up." 

"But I must," I told him at last. "If for no other reason than to return to limbo and forget what has been haunting me for the past aeon." 

"Suit yourself." Turel appeared less urgent as he turned his back on me and headed for the doors that led to my inner sanctum. He would be gone long before the door to the throne room had been broken down, but I would remain. I would face my fate just as she had faced hers…alone. 


End file.
